Collections

Ironically, collections are a great way to showcase the beauty of an individual item. I recently aquired a collection of used stamps which I had many crafty plans for. It was so interesting to sort them into categories... color, place of origin, theme, etc. As time passed I began to look passed the obvious similarities such as shape and color to see the vast differences. Stamps from Africa were printed on a much lesser quality paper the those from the United States, some countries tended to glorify people while others simply displayed monitary ammounts. I began to think that maybe the entire culture of a country could be summed up in the design of it's postage stamp. These tiny things we use everyday and hardly think about really, are a huge anthropological clue to the human race. So beyond the weight of that thought, they are also just incredibly beautiful!
I began arranging them by color, making a rainbowy wash not that different from my childhood ROYGBIV obsession. It wasn't until I awoke this morning to see my progress hanging on the wall ( a little blurry from not having on my glasses) that I realized how beautiful these stamps were together. It took a little human intervention, a little orginization...

And that's when the whole idea of collections hit me. My room is filled with collections. I have a collection of tiny framed things, some are important family members and others strangers. Above my door, a collection of thread spools, also a rainbowy wash... clue me in to my need to collect and arrange. That's what we do.


We take these things and make more of them. What is it they say, three points make a triangle? Well putting just two things together and immediatly a connection is made. Our culture, that is the substance we value and think of as beautiful, lasting and important, has our hands all over it. It all comes back to creating hands.